A Call to a Life of Appropriate Fear

Introduction and Reading of 1 Peter 1:13-21

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, June 14, 1998, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 We turn again this morning to the first letter of Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1, and I would ask you to follow as I read beginning in verse 13 and conclude with verse 21. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 13.

0:41 Wherefore, girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance, but like as he who called you is holy, be yourselves also holy in all manner of things. In all manner of living, because it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy. And if you call on him as father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear, knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down, from your fathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ, who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake, who through him are believers in God

2:03 that raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be. Now let us again seek God's face in prayer, remembering the promise of Isaiah 58, that as the rain and the snow come down out of heaven and do not return until they've accomplished God's purpose on the earth, God says, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall prosper in the thing whereunto I have sent it. Let us plead that what God has said, he will do, we may experience in our time together.

Prayer for Illumination and God's Word to Prosper

2:46 Let us pray.

2:51 Our Father, we do delight to be numbered among those described in this very passage who call upon you as Father. And we thank you that we know from your word that as our Father, you delight to give good gifts to your children. And we come this morning asking for the good gift of that salvation. And we ask that you would give us the gift of that spiritual illumination without which we cannot understand your word.

3:26 We cannot rightly perceive its truth, and we have no power to internalize it in faith and obedience. And yet you have said that the word that goes out of your mouth would not return to you void, but it would accomplish your purpose and prosper to the ends whereunto you have sent it. And we, therefore, lay hold of you in that promise, and plead, O God, that in this place today, each of us will know specific, real profit from the preaching of your holy word. O God, hear our cry, as in faith we commit ourselves in the coming hour to you, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Perennial Relevance of Apostolic Teaching and Peter's Exhortations

4:10 Amen. Now nearly 2,000 years have passed since the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, exerted their unique and non-repeatable influence upon the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That influence they exerted by their living ministry, and by the written documents that the Spirit of God guided them to write, and that have remained as part of our Bibles. In fact, so unique and non-repeatable, is the teaching of those apostles, that it is called in Ephesians 2.20, part of the very foundation of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And though, as we've already indicated, nearly 2,000 years have passed since they labored, and those 2,000 years have brought dramatic changes in a vast array of areas, in the things that really count, the issues which the people of God faced in the first century, are in no way radically different from the issues that the people of God face in the 20th century.

5:35 And so as we come again to a document written approximately around 64 AD, a document addressed to believers living in the five Roman provinces of Asia Minor, what we now know, as the land of Turkey, believers who in many ways we would never recognize if they showed up here today as one of us, their clothing would be different, their language would be different, many of their customs would be different, however, with respect to the real issues, the pressures they faced, the temptations they encountered, the perplexities with which they were buffeted and battered, the opposition they knew from within and without, in those things we are one with them. And therefore we can come, Lord's day by Lord's day, confident of the perennial and perpetual relevance of the language of the Spirit of God through the pen of the Apostle Peter. And we have noted in our study of this letter that as he writes to these distressed, persecuted, and in many ways infant believers there in those five provinces of Asia Minor,

6:58 he begins his pastoral letter with this marvelous statement of the greatness of their salvation in Jesus Christ. After a standard introduction of himself and an identification of the recipients of the letter and the pronouncement of an apostolic blessing, he breaks out into this amazing eulogy bounded by verses 3 and 12 in which he does not tell the believers concerning anything with respect to their duty. He lays no responsibilities upon them. He seeks to focus all of the energy of mind and soul upon the greatness and the glory of the God who according to His abundant mercy has begotten them again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Then, as we have noted in verse 13, he begins what we might call his first cycle of pastoral exhortations. And that first cycle, beginning in verse 13, continues to the end of verse 21. Peter calls these believers living as elect sojourners in these five Roman provinces to live a life before their God that is marked by three dominant qualities.

The Command to a Life of Appropriate Fear: Its Scope and Duration

8:22 First of all, it is to be a life of steadfast hope. Verse 13, set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Then, secondly, it is to be a life of universal holiness. Verses 14 through 16, one of which is found in the second imperative, be yourselves holy in all manner of living.

8:53 But then Peter moves on with the third major imperative in verse 17, indicating that this life is not only to be a life of steadfast hope, a life of pursuing universal holiness, but it is to be a life of appropriate fear. Look with me at verse 17, And if you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear, knowing that you were redeemed. The heart of verses 17 to 21 is this third imperative in this section of Peter's letter, and it is found in the words, pass the time of your sojourning in fear. Everything that precedes in verse 17 leads up to that command. If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear. The thoughts preceding the imperative flow into it, and then verse 18 begins with the words, knowing that you were redeemed.

10:19 Everything from verse 18 onward flows out of and is supportive of this command to live a life of appropriate fear. Now I want you to notice as we work our way through the text under this first heading, the command to a life of appropriate fear, two things with which respect to this fear. You may have questions, what is that fear? What is that fear not?

10:47 Hold off those questions because I want you first of all from the text itself to note with me two things with respect to this command to a life of appropriate fear. First of all, this fear is to accompany every facet of life. This fear is to accompany every facet of life. The main verb in verse 17 is from the same root word as we encountered in verse 15.

11:21 Like as he who called you is holy, be yourselves holy in all manner of living. There we encountered the noun anastrophe, and we said a good current idiomatic equivalent to be your entire lifestyle, particularly your lifestyle as it becomes manifest in all the relationships of life. And there the command was to universal holiness, to be holy with respect to one's entire lifestyle. Here you have the verb form of the same word.

12:02 Here it is anastrophe, the verbal form of anastrophe. And so Peter is saying this fear is to accompany not your religious life or this dimension of your life or that, but the imperative is pass the time of your sojourning in fear, that is, conduct the entirety of your life in all of its particulars even into all of the full spectrum of life's activities and relationships in the climate of fear. As surely as the summons to holiness is a summons to be holy in the entirety of our lifestyle, so the command to this appropriate fear, whatever it is, it is a command to experience a fear that touches every facet of life. Not fear in some facets and flippancy in others, but fear in the entirety of life. And the second thing I want you to notice from the text is that this fear is to accompany us throughout the entire duration of life. So it is not only to be understood intensively,

13:30 it is to touch every facet of life, but it is to accompany us throughout the entire duration of life. Notice the language of the text. If you call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear. The time of your sojourning in all of that time is the sphere in which this intensive, all pervasive fear is to be one of our companions.

14:12 A more accurate rending would be this time of being transience. And here Peter uses a word which means to be alongside of a house. And it refers to what we would call in current day terminology a resident alien. Someone who lives in a given area alongside the citizens of that area, but himself a stranger.

14:37 He is only alongside the house dwellers. He himself is a tent dweller. He himself is a resident alien. It is a synonym, not the same word, but a synonym of the word that was used in verse 1 of chapter 1.

14:54 To the elect who are sojourners of the dispersion. It is in the same family of words. And here Peter says that the people of God who must view themselves as resident aliens from the time God in grace extricated them out of being at home in this world system, marked with this world for judgment and destruction, when God in grace begets them again unto a living hope, delivers them in the language of Galatians 1 out of this present evil age, and makes them sojourners whose true fatherland is now heaven. And they are going to live by the laws of heaven. They are going to aspire to the consummate joys and glories of heaven. They are now those who merely are dwelling alongside the citizens of this world system. Peter says from the time God made you a sojourner until you are brought to your fatherland, until you are brought to that inheritance, incorruptible and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, this fear is to accompany you in the entirety of your pilgrimage.

16:17 The text could not be more clear. Pass the time of your sojourning in fear. Therefore, whatever the precise nature of this fear may be, the command to fear is a command to experience this fear intensively in the whole of our lifestyle and extensively for the entire duration of our pilgrimage. So we may say in summary, as surely as every child of God is to have his pilgrimage to his heavenly inheritance marked by steadfast hope, he is girding up the loins of his mind in a condition of spiritual sobriety, having his hopes set perfectly on the grace to be brought to him at the revelation of Christ. With his glorious inheritance burning in his eye, committed to a life of universal holiness, he is to spend his days in fear. Now again, what is that fear? We are not addressing it.

17:30 But I want you to be persuaded from the word of God, if God has made you a pilgrim and you are not living in fear, whatever it is, you are living contrary to the revealed will of God. Now that is what I want to do. From the text to persuade you, whatever this fear is, if you are a resident alien, if you are on pilgrimage to a better place, it is the revealed will of God for you and for me that we spend the time of our sojourning in fear. Well, having considered the command to a life of appropriate fear, now secondly, note with me the conditioning realities to a life of appropriate fear.

Conditioning Realities to a Life of Appropriate Fear: God as Father, Judge, and Redeemer

18:15 And here I struggled with words. We could call them the context to a life of appropriate fear, but that didn't satisfy me and at the end of the day or at the end of Saturday night the moment of truth comes and you've got to put something down on your final notes. So I'm calling it the conditioning realities to a life of appropriate fear. You see, fear is an emotion that we're all aware of.

18:41 We all know what fear is. Fear is the sense of dread in the face of some possible or real evil or harm with respect to ourselves. And the nature, the depth, the extent of fear is conditioned by the factors that we're afraid of. Let me illustrate.

19:05 We hear a young man say to one of his buddies, you know, I was really afraid that I was going to flunk my math course. Now that's a real fear. It's a dread that he might get an F in math. And when you probe and ask why were you afraid, he tells you that my dad said if I don't pass my math course, I can't go with the family on vacation.

19:29 I'm going to have to go to my uncle's farm and work from sunup to sundown for peanuts. Furthermore, there's this, this, this. In other words, that fear, very real, is conditioned by the consequences of that particular action. And so the kid legitimately says, I was afraid I wouldn't pass my math course.

19:47 We hear that same kid say in describing to someone else his experience at the Jersey Shore two years ago when he wandered out a little bit further than he should and was caught in the undertow and the lifeguards had to come in and by the time they got him he was unconscious and thankfully they revived him, got his lungs empty and he's describing this harrowing experience to someone and said and when all of the waves began to suck me under and pull me down I was afraid I was going to die. Now he's using the same word, afraid. But the nature, the extent, the depth of that fear is conditioned by the realities that produced it. Alright?

20:32 The same kid might say, to one of his buddies some time later, well, you know, I was afraid that I wasn't going to be asked to my buddy John's party. Now, he was fearful. For him, it was something to dread. Why?

20:50 Because that was the symbol you were part of the in-group. And so he had a fear born of the desire of pure acceptance. Now, do I need to beat the thing any thinner? I want to persuade you that the emotion of fear that we all know and I hope your consciousness affirms that emotion draws its contours, its shape, its depth of intensity from the surrounding factors producing that fear.

21:15 Well, Peter understood that. And so when he writes to these first century believers in Asia Minor, he focuses upon the conditioning realities for this life of appropriate fear. And what are they? Well, from the text, we'll note that there are two.

21:34 First of all, the reality of their relationship to God as an accessible Father and an impartial Judge, 17a. And secondly, their relationship to God as a gracious Redeemer through Jesus Christ. That's verses 18 to 21. Notice how he underscores this.

21:58 And if you call on Him as Father, that's not the if of uncertainty, that's the if of assumed reality. It could be translated since, like Colossians 3.1. Since you have been raised together with Christ.

22:16 So Peter says, since you call on Him as Father past the time of your sojourning in fear. The conditioning reality that determines the precise nature of this fear is their relationship to God as an accessible Father. He says you call upon Him as Father. You cry out to Him in your need, in your felt dependence.

22:46 And you cry out to Him conscious that this God is your loving Father. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of verse 3 of this chapter. The very Father who in His great, in His great mercy begot you again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And so Peter says this fear is conditioned by this relationship in which God is first of all your accessible Father but He is also your impartial Judge.

23:24 Again, look at the text. If you call on Him as Father, who without respect of persons, judges according to each man's work past the time of your sojourning in fear. God is not only regarded as accessible Father but as impartial Judge. And notice how he underscores this truth.

23:51 He said the one you call upon as Father is the one who without respect of persons. And Peter uses one big long fifteen letter word. It is a combination of a number of words that means God does not regard the faces of people when He deals with them. All men and women, boys and girls in that sense are faceless with God.

24:17 He regards only one thing in His judging. And that is, notice what the text says, according to each man's work. Not works plural, but work singular. He judges in terms of the overall pattern.

24:35 The cumulative effect of thoughts and words and deeds and relationships is considered as each man's work. And the God who is their Father is the God who not shall judge but is judging. It is in the very nature of God that whenever He makes judgments, He makes them without any regard to people's faces, their form, their background, their standing, anything by which men often skew perfect righteousness and justice in their judgment. None of this is true of God.

25:15 He is always judging with respect to each man's work. In other words, there is no conning of God, no bribing of God, no influence peddling, no manipulating the system of justice through technicalities with clever lawyers. And so Peter says, as I am about to direct these believers into a life marked by appropriate fear, it is to be a fear conditioned, first of all, by this relationship they sustain to God, who is their accessible Father and is their impartial judge. But then he says a second thing is to condition this fear, and that begins in verse 18, carrying right on from the imperative past the time of your sojourning in fear, knowing that you were redeemed. And from verses 18 to 21, there follows a concentrated, rich and glorious statement of redemption or ransom by the blood of Christ. And it will take two other messages just to unpack those verses. Tremendously rich, many fundamental biblical concepts set before us one after another are introduced by Peter, but this much is clear

26:44 from a cursory reading of the passages. Whatever this fear is that is commanded and is to touch every facet of life for the entire duration of life, it is not only a fear conditioned by this relationship to God as accessible Father and righteous judge, but it is conditioned by an intelligent, believing grasp upon God as our Redeemer through Jesus Christ. So whatever that fear is, it is conditioned by these realities. Relationship to God as accessible Father and impartial judge and relationship to God as gracious Redeemer through Jesus Christ. Now having looked at the command to a life of appropriate fear, secondly, the conditioning realities to a life of appropriate fear, are you still with me? Now we come in the third place to the precise identity of this appropriate fear. And your initial questions I hope now to answer.

The Precise Identity of Appropriate Fear: What it is Not

27:54 What in the world is this fear? Well, let's start with what this fear cannot be, a process of elimination. When Peter says, pass the time of your sojourning in fear, what can we say with dogmatism that fear is not? Well, we can say three things that it is not.

28:14 Number one, it cannot be the fear of the guilty, unforgiven sinner, terrified at the thought of wrath and judgment. It can't be that fear. It cannot be the fear of the guilty, unforgiven sinner, terrified at the thought of deserved wrath and judgment. That's the fear Adam had in the Garden of Eden, and well he should have had it.

28:42 When he had disobeyed God, you remember God comes walking in the Garden in the cool of the day and says, Adam, Adam, Adam responds and says, I heard your voice and I was afraid and I hid myself. That was a fear of terror. The God who had said in the day that you eat, dying you will die. And Adam already felt in his soul that spiritual death that alienated him from God.

29:20 Instead of all of his emotions leaping up with a positive affinity to the voice of his God coming in some special manifestation of his presence in the Garden in the cool of the day, he runs from God in terror instead of approaching God with filial love and with filial fear. He is gripped with that fear that John says in 1 John 4, fear hath torment. Now that fear was legitimate for Adam. He was a guilty criminal.

29:55 He had committed the highest affront to his God and to his Creator. And yet, you see, when Peter says to these believers, pass the time of your sojourning in fear, it cannot be that fear because he has just said, you call on God as Father. You are not running and hiding from Him. The whole disposition of your life is running to Him.

30:21 Calling upon Him. You have received the spirit of adoption enabling you to cry, Abba, that is Father. So it cannot be this fear. He has said, if you are calling upon Him as Father.

30:36 He has described them from verse 3 on as a people who with Him are ready to bless and magnify and extol God for His great and rich abundant mercy in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. They are described in verse 8 as rejoicing greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of their faith, even the salvation of souls. In that context, it cannot be the fear of the guilty unforgiving sinner aware of deserved wrath and judgment. That is the fear some of you ought to have.

31:18 If for five minutes you allowed your mind to get in touch with the reality of the spiritual context in which you sit this morning, your knees would knock and you would be fearful that hell itself would open up and swallow you. And that would be a legitimate fear. And it might be the first indication that you were in the way to life and salvation. As long as you remain a careless, unfearful sinner, you are in your most dangerous place.

31:55 But that's not the fear he's commanding to these sojourners. Secondly, it cannot be the fear of the doubting, unbelieving believer. I haven't lost my marbles by that terminology. It cannot be the fear of the doubting, unbelieving believer.

32:14 Believers can sometimes be unbelieving. Remember the Lord said again to his disciples, O fools and slow of heart to believe! Wherefore did you doubt? Believers at given points can be unbelieving.

32:29 And when they become unbelieving, then often they are filled with unfounded fears. But you see, these believers are those addressed in verses 8 and 9 as those who having not seen Christ love Him, on whom though they see Him not yet believing, their faith is so steadfast that Christ is all that He says He will be, to believing sinners, that they are not just rejoicing occasionally when they get some wisp of hope and assurance. No, the baseline of their lives is that they are rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory. So the fear here cannot be that fear of the doubting, unbelieving believer. That's a fear that is never to be looked upon as a mark of spirituality. In some circles it is. The mark of spirituality is to say, well, I believe, I trust in Christ, but I am fearful of this and fearful of that and always doubting.

33:34 No, no, that is not what is commanded as our companion throughout our pilgrimage. And thirdly, it cannot be the fear of the uninstructed believer with indistinct views of the grace of God. Sometimes God's people have fears because they are simply ignorant of truth. So, you remember what Paul said to the Thessalonians.

33:59 They had unfounded, unwarranted sorrows because they were ignorant of certain facts concerning the second coming of Christ in relationship to their dead loved ones. So what did Paul say? Now concerning those that have fallen asleep, brethren, I would not have you ignorant that you sorrow not as those who have no hope. No hope.

34:26 Then he gives them instruction. And at the end of the instruction he says, Wherefore, comfort one another with these words. There is a fear that is born not so much of unbelief but of ignorance. Someone has indistinct views of how the grace of God works in the salvation of sinners.

34:45 And they may know that they have been begotten again unto a living hope, but they are not certain, as Peter goes on to say, that not only is the inheritance preserved but the inheritors are preserved who by the power of God are guarded unto salvation. And so there are people who have fears that are rooted in their ignorance. Now that can't be the fear Peter is enjoining because he has been sweeping away any residual ignorance about the certainty, the indefectibility of their salvation by everything that's preceded. In fact, he's been so bold as to say in his first exhortation, Set your hope finally and fixedly upon the grace that is to come to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So whatever this fear is, it cannot be the fear of the guilty, unforgiven sinner. It cannot be the fear of the doubting, unbelieving believer. And it cannot be the fear of the uninstructed believer.

The Precise Identity of Appropriate Fear: What it Is

35:49 Well then, what in the world is it? Well, we've seen what it is not. Secondly, let me take a moment to say what the fear may be. And I do this only because a number of you are readers.

36:03 Some of you read commentaries and you read good books that will quote various texts of Scripture. And I do not want you to think if someone says that this is the fear that they're somehow to be stricken off as an unsafe guide. No, taking the general teaching of Scripture, many suggest that what this fear may be is the general fear of God. What Peter commands in chapter 2 and verse 17 in two very simple words.

36:34 Look at the text. Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God. And there are many commentators who when they come to this passage, they say what Peter is saying is you are to pass the time of your sojourning in that generic grace of the fear of God and the fear of God in its most general sense is that fear that is the reaction of the redeemed soul to the majesty, to the glory, to the love of God that fills him with awe and with wonder. So that pleasing that God is the greatest passion in life.

37:14 Now that fear is a fear that will be with us even in the eternal state. You see the more someone accurately knows God the more they'll fear Him. That's why in Revelation 15 glorified spirits are saying who shall not fear thee oh God. You're going to fear God in heaven in a way you never feared in here because then we shall see Him as He is.

37:42 And the more we see Him and know Him the more we will fear Him. And so some take the position that this is what Peter is doing giving this general exhortation to pass the time of their sojourning in the fear of God as a generic thing. But now I have a problem with that. And my problem is that he focuses in the treatment of this fear upon God who judges according to each man's work.

38:13 And he says this fear is to mark us in the period of our sojourning. So my understanding and this is what I believe the fear to be and this was the greatest task in the preparation was seeking to answer that question. What is this fear in its precise identity? It is a fear that draws its contours not only from a relationship to God as accessible Father He will be that for all eternity.

38:49 But it draws some of its contours from the reality of God as impartial judge. And in eternity that will be behind us. And furthermore he says pass the time of your sojourning in this fear. So what do I believe this fear is?

39:08 Well I believe old Bishop Leighton describes it accurately when he said very simply it is a holy self-suspicion and fear of offending God. It is a holy self-suspicion and a fear of offending God. John Brown the great Scottish commentator stated it a little differently but it is in the same ballpark. It is fear lest we offend Him and incur His just displeasure.

39:45 It is a fear lest we offend Him and incur His just displeasure. It is the fear arising on the one hand from the fact that God is my loving Father and my Redeemer and the thought of displeasing so gracious and loving a Father is painful to me. It fills me with fear and dread. If you call on Him as Father pass the time of your sojourning in fear.

40:20 Yes, I do call upon Him as Father. And why do I call upon Him as Father? Because when I was a rebel under His wrath deserving of hell and judgment He sent forth His only begotten Son to live and die for the likes of me. In my own life history He sent His Spirit with the Word and whatever human instruments He chose to use and He brought me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

40:47 He begot me again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And in the light of all that He is to me is my Father. The thought that I would displease so gracious and glorious and loving a Father fills me with painful apprehensions. It fills me with fear.

41:08 It fills me with fear. It is the fear of offending so gracious a God but then note it takes its contours from the reality that God is impartial Judge. If you call on Him as Father who without respect of persons is judging you. He is judging according to each man's work past the time of your sojourning in fear.

41:33 He is the God before whom all sin is detestable and ugly. He is the God who cannot be conned by flimsy excuses and blame shifting. My sin in His face as my accessible Father is sin in the face of Him who is impartial Judge. And though judgment shall land me in hell has passed for me in the work of Christ for there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

42:06 The reality that I must stand before Him in the last day and be vindicated as a righteous man not only righteous with the righteousness of Christ imputed but righteous with the transforming grace of Christ imparted that reality grips me. And I know that sin is no less offensive to God because I am in a state of grace. And though it will never be brought up to damn me it does not cease to be sin that is ugly and offensive to the thrice holy God. Therefore this fear this fear derives from that two-fold reality of my relationship to God.

42:51 He is my accessible Father in the thought of grieving and offending Him is fearful to me. He is the impartial Judge and the thought of provoking Him is fearful to me. And then He will go on to say past the time of your sojourning in fear knowing that you were ransomed not with corruptible things ransomed out of what? Out of a vain manner of life ransomed not that I might be forgiven and live as I lived but ransomed that I might be released from the kind of life that was filled with emptiness and despair and dishonor to God. And knowing what a tremendous price was paid to ransom me I fear lest I should in my actions ever give the impression that I treat that price with disdain. These are the things that produce the fear. And therefore I believe it is accurate to state in answer to the question what is this fear?

44:05 It is a holy self suspicion and fear of offending God. It is a fear lest we offend Him and incur His just displeasure. And this fear of offending and displeasing God must mark our experience follow carefully now until the possibility of offending Him is passed. And when will that be passed?

44:35 Not until we complete our pilgrimage. And as long as you are a sojourner and you are not yet home you and I can offend Him. You and I can offend Him. This gracious Father this impartial Judge this gracious Redeemer.

45:01 Past the time of your sojourning and fear until the thing you fear is no longer to be feared. And that will be when our journey is over. Let me give you the distillation of that perspective from one of the commentators of another generation. A Dr. Lilly very perceptive knowledgeable man but spiritually minded. He writes, you will observe however that our Apostle has special reference to the present conflict and trial as he calls it the time of sojourning. Past the time or more exactly walk during the time of your sojourning in fear as if there were something in the character of the time itself that might well add force to the command. During the time of their sojourning the children of God are from home.

45:53 They are in a strange land. A hostile land beset by many evil influences and temptations to forget their father's house to disown or compromise their heavenly citizenship and cast in their lot with those around them. The powerful and crafty spirits of darkness are in league against them and eagerly watch for their halting. But allied with these inviting and aiding every external solicitation and assault is still the remaining corruption of their own nature.

46:25 There is therefore reason enough within and without why the most mature Christian in this world even while rejoicing in the full and absolute assurance of hope with a joy unspeakable and full of glory should yet serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Walking in the midst of dangers and snares it behooves him to walk in fear the fear if not of being finally lost yet of meanwhile stumbling offending God bringing dishonor to the truth prejudicing the souls of others troubling his own present peace and impairing his own future reward. It is indeed only during the time of sojourning that these risks exist and this salutary apprehension this fear is called for they will have no place in that better land where the spirits of the just made perfect do always behold the face of God. And so this fear this appropriate fear that is commanded is to be our companion until the occasion of that fear is ended and that will not be till we reach a better place. Well I've attempted to open up the text under those three heads the command to a life of appropriate fear the conditioning realities

Application: The Vitality of Balanced Theology and Legitimate Fear

47:52 to this life of appropriate fear the precise identity of this appropriate fear now as we come to application I want you to first of all note with me how vital to the Christian life are proper balanced views of the nature character and works of God. Notice how vital to the Christian life are proper balanced views of the nature the character and the works of God. Now when you study the nature the character and the works of God what do you call that? The study of theology.

48:37 Oh theology, theology. Theology is just the word about theos it is the logos the word about God. And Peter is making theologians of common slaves that he addresses in chapter two of wives with unconverted husbands in chapter three believers buffeted by their former sinful companions in chapter four he wants them all to be theologians why? Because only if they are theologians can they be stable mature Christians.

49:13 How do we see that in the text? Well I hope it is obvious. He says if you call on him as father he assumes that they have a concept of what it is to call upon God as father and furthermore he assumes that they have a knowledge of God as judge and the nature of his judgment. If you call on him as father who without respective persons is judging every man according to his work past the time of your sojourning in fear knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish without spot etc. What is Peter doing? He is bringing forward in giving this practical instruction on the Christian life for distressed saints in the first century this rich panorama of views on the nature the character and the works of God and saying this is the stuff of stable Christians. Stable Christians are not made simple mushy stroking with relational sermons.

50:32 They are made when the stuff of the Bible is expounded and by the grace of God internalized with an intelligent faith. They that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. You want to be strong? You want to do exploits?

50:53 Then come to know your God in his revealed nature in his character and in his works. You see for some conceiving of God as a loving accessible father is all you need to know to live the Christian life. Oh is that so? Then why didn't Peter stop by saying if you call on him his father that's all you need?

51:14 Bask in his fatherly smile. He didn't say that. No Peter brings in this balanced view of the nature the character and the works of God. Just to show how helpful it is in this one little instance the way he juxtaposes these two things if you call on him his father that's a present tense if you are calling since you are calling upon him as father the very one who judges according to each man's work as one commentator said and so helpfully I will not sin for my father is the judge. Yes he is an accessible father he is a loving father he is a kind and tender father but he is the awesome judge since my father is the judge I will not sin but what happens when I have sinned? Since my judge is my father I will not despair but I will go to him as my Lord Jesus taught me to go to him and say my father who is in heaven forgive my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me. You see how that simple little couplet keeps you on the one hand from careless flippant presumption and on the other hand from crushing

52:43 crippling despair. I call on him his father who is my judge therefore I will not be careless but when I have been careless and I have fallen the judge is my father. You see the Christian life becomes the outworking of the nature the character the works the relationships we sustain to God. That's what the Christian life is all about and Peter is understoring that in this third mark of the life of a pilgrim steadfast hope universal holiness and appropriate fear.

53:23 Note then how vital to the Christian life are proper balanced views of the nature character and works of God but secondly note that real fear of offending God as father and provoking him as a judge is a legitimate and necessary component of the Christian life. Real fear of offending God as father and provoking him as judge is a legitimate and necessary component of the Christian life. Now why do I underscore that? Because in our day as in all bygone days and here I quote from John Brown writing in another generation there is a system which passes with many for a peculiarly pure brand of Christianity the object of which seems to be to set believers free from every species of fear as inconsistent with faith which according to them consists in believing that no matter what happens I will in the end be saved. You hear anything like that in our day? Once saved always saved no matter what you do.

54:50 We've heard it closer to home in recent months where in handling passages where we are told to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear some would try to stand that on its head and say well that's not really fear it's something else for fear has no place as a fundamental motivation and if we have risen to the heights of real abounding vigorous faith that faith will eventually dispel every species of fear. No it will dispel the fear that has torment 1 John 4 the torment in the presence of unjudged sin and the fear of the coming judgment but God's love never dispels this fear it only engenders it. If you call on Him as Father pass the time of your sojourning in fear and those who become God and persuade themselves that they can rise to a level of Christian experience in which fear is no longer not nearly a dominant but not even a present motivation eventually their presumption will slay them for let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. If God in His infinite

56:20 wisdom knows that the full revelation of His loving disposition to me as an accessible Father is not enough to keep me in the way in the time of my sojourning but that I need to contemplate Him as righteous judge and pass the time of my sojourning in fear who am I to be wiser than my God. He has designed the salvation He has defined the contours and the very God who has spoken in these earlier verses such rich and glorious realities of what we have in Christ that God has said all of you pilgrims on your way to your inheritance you need as your companion not only steadfast hope the pursuit of universal holiness but the presence of appropriate fear and so the second observation on the text is that real fear of offending and provoking Him as judge is a legitimate and necessary component of the Christian life and then we come to the third and final observation on the text this fear of offending and provoking God is not at all inconsistent with an enlightened understanding strong faith

57:49 fervent love and steadfast hope now that's a mouthful but the only way I can gather strands of truth from the entire context this fear of offending and provoking God is not at all inconsistent with enlightened understanding strong faith fervent love and steadfast hope you see in the context Peter has given the opening eulogy blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great living hope unto an inheritance incorruptible their understandings have been flooded with light about salvation and it's clear from what Peter says that light has been joined with faith whom having not seen you love though you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory no Peter assumes that these are enlightened believers that these are believers who love Christ and are conscious of their love to Christ who have a strong and a steadfast faith a faith that enables them to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory he's commanded them to have a steadfast hope why would he command that if there were no grounds for if the ordinary

59:16 humble believer does not have grounds to set his hope perfectly on the grace that is coming to him and will be consummately revealed commanding them to sin no the humblest believer has well grounded a well grounded basis to have such a hope now unless we accuse Peter of being just having a lapse of memory and somehow suspended in his reception of those unique influences of the spirit of God to guide him as he wrote God sees no contradiction in these things no contradiction whatsoever God sees no contradiction in these winds no contradiction whatsoever it is not he who gave his life for him to be his own and he also will he according to all his knowledge as he went about the earth in his own times then it would take, and appropriately take, to state it in my own words. I want to give it to you from the old Bishop of London, Bishop Leighton. Anyone who does any study in 1 Peter will find there's not a commentator that I've come across,

60:44 maybe one or two of the 17 or 18 that I use, that doesn't refer, some of them continually, to old Bishop Leighton, who's written a classic commentary on this epistle. And notice his beautiful insights on how these things feed one another. The fear here recommended is unquestionably a holy self-suspicion and a fear of offending God, which may not only consist with the assured hope of salvation and with faith and love and spiritual joy, but is their inseparable companion. As all the graces in the Christian grow together, and dwell together, and increase or decrease together, the more a Christian believes and loves and rejoices in the love of God, the more unwilling surely he is to displease this God. And, if in danger of displeasing him, the more afraid of it. And on the other side, this fear being the true principle of a fear to fall into sin and a commitment to flee from sin, and the occasions of sin, and temptations to sin, and resisting them when they make an assault, as it is a watch or guard that keeps out the enemies and disturbers of the soul, so the soul preserves its inward peace,

62:10 increases in the assurance of faith and hope, and that joy which they cause, therefore, the soul that is living in fear increases in love and hope and assurance, and the soul increasing in love, and hope and assurance increases in the fear of anything that would mar or destroy or erode those graces. So, each feed the other. But, none can exist alone. God has wisely called us to these complementary dispositions of the soul.

Conclusion: The Complementary Nature of Fear, Hope, and Joy

62:48 Confident hope, yes. Abounding joy, yes. But, constant fear, yes. And, dear people, I want to underscore this is not the emphasis of Trinity or Pastor Martin.

63:05 This is the teaching of Almighty God. And, if you want a Christianity stripped of fear, you'll have to make your own brand, get your own savior, and construct your own heaven. One of the tragedies of the ethos, the climate of many professing Christians in our day, is, their watch-cry is lighting up. We don't want a heavy and oppressive Christianity.

63:44 We want fuzzies. And, we want strokies. And, we want happy, happy, happy all the time. My friend, you want solid joy in the Holy Ghost.

63:58 It will come in the way of a life of holy fear. And, that holy fear under God's blessing will feed your joy and feed your peace. Which, in turn, will feed your fear. And, one and the other, reciprocally feed one another.

64:16 So that, by the grace of God, we grow as a people, not only with our hopes set perfectly on the grace to be brought unto us at the coming of the Lord Jesus, committing ourselves to the pursuit of a life of universal holiness, but passing the time of our sojourning in fear. In fear, knowing that we were redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood, even the blood of Christ. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank You for Your Holy Word. We thank You for the richness of its truth. We confess that we know so little of You and of Your ways, but we thank You for the little bit we have been privileged to see this morning.

65:20 And we do pray that the Spirit Himself would write these truths upon our hearts, that we may be marked as a people who pass the time of our sojourning in this appropriate fear. And we pray for those, our Father, who know nothing of this fear, for they do not and cannot call upon You as Father. You are nothing to them as they sit here this morning, but an all-discerning Judge who has a controversy with them in the Court of Heaven. And we pray that they will fear with that terror that will drive them out of themselves and away from themselves and into Christ and all that He is and offers Himself to be to needy sinners. And then, our God, we pray for Your people in this place, that we would be determined that by Your grace, we would have just and right and balanced, comprehensive views of who You are, of Your works, of Your ways, of Your relationship to us and ours to You. O God, deliver us, we pray, from all shallow, indistinct, distorted, and perverted views of who You are, and help us to know You as You are revealed in the Scriptures and in Jesus Christ. Seal then this word to each of our hearts, to our prophet and to Your praise,

66:45 we plead through Christ our Lord. Amen.